1 Chronicles 22:1–24:31

David Prepares to Build the Temple

22Then David said, ^a“This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.” ²So David commanded to gather the ^baliens who were in the land of Israel; and he appointed masons to ^ccut hewn stones to build the house of God. ³And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails of the doors of the gates and for the joints, and bronze in abundance ^dbeyond measure, ⁴and cedar trees in abundance; for the ^eSidonians and those from Tyre brought much cedar wood to David.

⁵Now David said, ^f“Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.” So David made abundant preparations before his death.

⁶Then he called for his son Solomon, and ¹charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. ⁷And David said to Solomon: “My son, as for me, ^git was in my mind to build a house ^hto the name of the Lord my God; ⁸but the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁱ‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. ^9jBehold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him ^krest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be ²Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. ^10lHe shall build a house for My name, and ^mhe shall be My son, and I will be his Father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ ¹¹Now, my son, may ⁿthe Lord be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the Lord your God, as He has said to you. ¹²Only may the Lord ^ogive you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. ^13pThen you will prosper, if you take care to fulfill the statutes and judgments with which the Lord ³charged Moses concerning Israel. ^qBe strong and of good courage; do not fear nor be dismayed. ¹⁴Indeed I have taken much trouble to prepare for the house of the Lord one hundred thousand talents of gold and one million talents of silver, and bronze and iron ^rbeyond measure, for it is so abundant. I have prepared timber and stone also, and you may add to them. ¹⁵Moreover there are workmen with you in abundance: woodsmen and stonecutters, and all types of skillful men for every kind of work. ¹⁶Of gold and silver and bronze and iron there is no limit. Arise and begin working, and ^sthe Lord be with you.”

¹⁷David also commanded all the ^tleaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, ¹⁸“Is not the Lord your God with you? ^uAnd has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people. ¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to ^vbring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built ^wfor the name of the Lord.”

The Divisions of the Levites

23So when David was old and full of days, he made his son ^aSolomon king over Israel.

²And he gathered together all the leaders of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. ³Now the Levites were numbered from the age of ^bthirty years and above; and the number of individual males was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴Of these, twenty-four thousand were to ^clook after the work of the house of the Lord, six thousand were ^dofficers and judges, ⁵four thousand were gatekeepers, and four thousand ^epraised the Lord with musical instruments, ^f“which I made,” said David, “for giving praise.”

⁶Also ^gDavid separated them into ¹divisions among the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁷Of the ^hGershonites: ²Laadan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Laadan: the first Jehiel, then Zetham and Joel—three in all. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran—three in all. These were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Laadan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, ³Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These were the four sons of Shimei. ¹¹Jahath was the first and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons; therefore they were assigned as one father’s house.

¹²ⁱThe sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel—four in all. ¹³The sons of ^jAmram: Aaron and Moses; and ^kAaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should ⁴sanctify the most holy things, ^lto burn incense before the Lord, ^mto minister to Him, and ⁿto give the blessing in His name forever. ¹⁴Now ^othe sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned to the tribe of Levi. ^15pThe sons of Moses were ⁵Gershon and Eliezer. ¹⁶Of the sons of Gershon, ^qShebuel ⁶was the first. ¹⁷Of the descendants of Eliezer, ^rRehabiah was the first. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸Of the sons of Izhar, ^sShelomith was the first. ^19tOf the sons of Hebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah was the first and Jesshiah the second.

^21uThe sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar and ^vKish. ²²And Eleazar died, and ^whad no sons, but only daughters; and their ⁷brethren, the sons of Kish, ^xtook them as wives. ^23yThe sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth—three in all.

²⁴These were the sons of ^zLevi by their fathers’ houses—the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were counted individually by the number of their names, who did the work for the service of the house of the Lord, from the age of ^atwenty years and above.

²⁵For David said, “The Lord God of Israel ^bhas given rest to His people, that they may dwell in Jerusalem forever”; ²⁶and also to the Levites, “They shall no longer ^ccarry the tabernacle, or any of the articles for its service.” ²⁷For by the ^dlast words of David the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above; ²⁸because their duty was to help the sons of Aaron in the service of the house of the Lord, in the courts and in the chambers, in the purifying of all holy things and the work of the service of the house of God, ²⁹both with ^ethe showbread and ^fthe fine flour for the grain offering, with ^gthe unleavened cakes and ^hwhat is baked in the pan, with what is mixed and with all kinds of ⁱmeasures and sizes; ³⁰to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evening; ³¹and at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord ^jon the Sabbaths and on the New Moons and on the ^kset ⁸feasts, by number according to the ordinance governing them, regularly before the Lord; ³²and that they should ^lattend to the ^mneeds of the tabernacle of meeting, the needs of the holy place, and the ⁿneeds of the sons of Aaron their brethren in the work of the house of the Lord.

The Divisions of the Priests

24Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. ^aThe sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ²And ^bNadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no children; therefore Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests. ³Then David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and ^cAhimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to the schedule of their service.

⁴There were more leaders found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar, and thus they were divided. Among the sons of Eleazar were sixteen heads of their fathers’ houses, and eight heads of their fathers’ houses among the sons of Ithamar. ⁵Thus they were divided by lot, one group as another, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of the house of God, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar. ⁶And the scribe, Shemaiah the son of Nethanel, one of the Levites, wrote them down before the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites, one father’s house taken for Eleazar and one for Ithamar.

⁷Now the first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, ⁸the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, ⁹the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, ¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to ^dAbijah, ¹¹the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, ¹²the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, ¹³the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, ¹⁴the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, ¹⁵the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to ¹Happizzez, ¹⁶the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to ²Jehezekel, ¹⁷the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.

¹⁹This was the schedule of their service ^efor coming into the house of the Lord according to their ordinance by the hand of Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

Other Levites

²⁰And the rest of the sons of Levi: of the sons of Amram, ³Shubael; of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ²¹Concerning ^fRehabiah, of the sons of Rehabiah, the first was Isshiah. ²²Of the Izharites, ⁴Shelomoth; of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ²³Of the sons ⁵of ^gHebron, Jeriah was the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴Of the sons of Uzziel, Michah; of the sons of Michah, Shamir. ²⁵The brother of Michah, Isshiah; of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ^26hThe sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi; the son of Jaaziah, Beno. ²⁷The sons of Merari by Jaaziah were Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri. ²⁸Of Mahli: Eleazar, ⁱwho had no sons. ²⁹Of Kish: the son of Kish, Jerahmeel.

³⁰Also ^jthe sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites according to their fathers’ houses.

³¹These also cast lots just as their brothers the sons of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and Levites. The chief fathers did just as their younger brethren.